1. Size of aquarium (# of gallons) 30
2. Is your aquarium setup freshwater or brackish water? fresh
3. How long the aquarium has been set up? 1.5 years
4. What fish and how many are in the aquarium (species are important to know) 7 tiger barb, 2 cory sterbais, 1 albino rainbow shark, 1 gold nugget pleco
5. Are there live plants in the aquarium? 1 sword, 1 java
6. What temperature is the tank water currently? 76.1 F
7. What make/model filter are you using? penguin 150
8. Are you using a CO2 unit? no
9. Does your aquarium receive natural sunlight at any given part of the day? no
10. When did you perform your last water exchange, and how much water was changed? 25% 10 days ago
11. How often do you perform water changes? every 2-3 weeks
12. How often and what foods do you feed your fish? daily, mix up shrimp pellets, sinking wafer, "community formaula" flakes, mini krill and blood worms freeze dried, algae wafer for plec
13. What type of lighting are you using and how long is it kept on? T50 I think, 10hrs day
14. What specific concerns bring you here at this time? see pic. barb has funny spots
15. What are your water parameters? Test your pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. ) 0 ammonia, 0nitrite, 20 nitrate, ph 7.4. All of this is baseline for the tank
16. What test kit are you using and is it liquid or test strips? API liquid master test kit
17. When was the last time you bought a fish and how did they behave while in the pet store tank? Ah ha, all fish are 1.5years old to the initial setup, except gold nugget plec is new two weeks ago. no spots on him though (except his yellow ones of course). Him and all the other fish are looking and acting just fine. and the sword plant was new at the same time, two weeks ago. I use a liquid fertilizer, a little bit less than what is called for with water changes.

They look like wound of some sort. Are there any sharp objects in the tank? You really should consider changing 20 percent of water each week. I am not a fan of medications or chemicals in the tank so I cannot advise in that respect but I will say that if water conditions are favorable that many fish can recover from scrapes or wounds without using meds. In the event you decide to use medication to treat fish ALWAYS follow the directions MORE is not better and if possible treat the fish in seperate container or tank. Weekly water changes as mentioned along with vaccuming the bottom of the tank to remove poo and or uneaten food will improve the water in any tank. GOOD LUCK

willow

09-28-2008 03:32 AM

hi there
ditto to 1077.
any chance of a full tank shot ? looks like he's wounded himself
to me.water must be kept very clean(not implying you don't :) )
you can if you would like use some melafix,you don't want a
secondary infection to set in,and they can very quickly !!

doser

09-28-2008 03:41 AM

thanks all! not sure what you mean by "full tank shot".

hmmm, I did put in some fake coral recently. rather like it but I think it may be the culprit. The fish get to chasing one another, the albino shark is a big bully, chases the barbs, sometimes they run into the glass and stuff like that. sounds like i am off to the store soon to find out what melafix is...

willow

09-28-2008 03:48 AM

hi
ok befor you go to the store take the coral out. !!
it will only give you a higher PH which the fish don't need.
melafix won't be hard to find,it will be with the fish meds.
don't let the people at the store convince you to by other stuff,
if you keep the tank really clean with the water changes,hopefully
you won't need anything else.http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a81...8/images-2.jpg
and full tank shot,sorry i mean you you show a picture of the whole tank
please,so i can see what decorations you have in there.

doser

09-28-2008 02:39 PM

more pics

here is the full tank shot. I took the fake plastic coral out now, not sure, kinda rough but nothing sharp on there...the fish do jostle in and out of it, its a nice hidey hole. will have to get something else for them to hide in I guess. http://www.fishforum.com/userpix/455...tankshot_2.jpg

now maybe I am getting paranoid about my tank, my kiddo noticed big white spots on the albino sharks tail, funny thing is its exactly the same on both sides and I wonder if its not just a normal part of his anatomy?http://www.fishforum.com/userpix/4555_whitespot_1.jpg

hi
do you mean the white looking mark at the end of the body befor the tail ?

doser

09-28-2008 04:50 PM

yes willow the white mark just before the tail. I figured it was normal because he has matching on both sides? one of my other barbs has little dings near his dorsal fin. I think I am just getting paranoid at this point :)

willow

09-28-2008 05:15 PM

hi
i think the shark is fine,all the pics i just googled seem to
be the same.
it's easy to worry over the fish,i've done the same thing today,
and in the end had to help my poor angel fish. :(
just keep an eye on the barbs,if the marks get bigger then you may have
a little problem.
may i ask what is the black object in the last picture on the tank floor. ?

doser

09-28-2008 06:17 PM

its an led light and aerator. makes very fine bubbles and nice blue light. looks good behind the plant. have to keep the gravel away from it or it gets noisy....